1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a magazine for use with light-sensitive film, and more specifically to a method of attaching film to the spool of such a magazine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many methods have been devised for attaching film to a spool in a magazine casing. The practice of first attaching a short leader to a spool, sealing the spool in a casing with the leader extending out of the casing and, thereafter, splicing sensitized film onto the leader and winding the leader and film onto the spool is well-known. Use of such a leader permits assembling the magazine off-line from film spooling operations, and under room-light conditions. Further, spooling operations can be speeded up since attachment of film to a leader is faster than attachment to the spool.
The practice of using a leader in such film magazines has generally been considered unacceptable, however, because the splice made between the leader and the film may interfere with photofinishing operations. High-speed photofinishing requires that customers' films be cut from their magazines and spliced end-to-end to form a continuous web. If the end of the film cut from the magazine carries part of the splice that attached the film to the leader, a new splice that the photofinisher makes on that end will be thicker than normal because of the addition of another layer of tape. This extra thickness may snag in the photofinisher's equipment. Such splices are also weaker and, irrespective of their thickness, are perhaps more likely to separate since they are, in effect, double splices.
In addition to the photofinishing problems there is also a camera design problem. Some cameras expose film very close to the magazine's film exit slot. In such cameras a splice emerging from the magazine will cause loss of the image at the last frame. For these reasons, the practice of using a leader for loading unexposed photographic film has been considered unacceptable.